Talk With Tales for Children: P4C with EYFS

TWiTCH (Talk With Tales for Children) is an early years professional development programme designed to improve young children’s language, thinking, and communication through high-quality adult–child dialogue during storytime. Developed and delivered by Thoughtful partner University Sheffield Hallam University and led by Project Director, and Thoughtful trainer Fufy Demissie, the programme works with nursery practitioners to embed dialogic, enquiry-based approaches into everyday practice.

Although not a Thoughtful project, TWiTCH draws on principles closely aligned with Philosophy for Children (P4C) and will undoubtably be of interest to those keen to use philosophical enquiry with children in the early years.

On Sheffield Hallam’s progarmme, practitioners are trained to facilitate extended, meaningful conversations with children through open questioning, structured dialogue, and collaborative reasoning. Across repeated story cycles, children are encouraged not only to understand narratives but to make choices, give reasons, and reflect on ideas – mirroring key P4C practices such as justification, listening, and building on others’ thinking.

TWiTCH was supported by trainers with expertise in P4C, helping translate philosophical enquiry into developmentally appropriate early years pedagogy. This ensured that dialogic reading became not just a literacy strategy, but a vehicle for developing reasoning, oracy, and shared thinking from a very young age.

Evidence from the pilot suggests the programme improves practitioner confidence and leads to observable gains in children’s vocabulary, reasoning, confidence, and ability to express ideas – outcomes strongly aligned with the aims of P4C in building thoughtful, articulate learners.

Overall, TWiTCH demonstrated how P4C-informed pedagogy can be successfully adapted for nursery contexts, embedding philosophical dialogue within everyday early years practice and laying foundations for oracy, enquiry, and reflective thinking.

The TWiTCH programme is being further evaluated by the EEF in a second trial starting September 2026. You can get involved and find out more about it on their website TWiTCH efficacy trial.